Improvement in ship-building



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID BROWN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN sHlP-BulLDlNG.

specification fol-ming part of Letters Patent No. 5,344, dated loetobeiI so, 1er?.

To @ZZ whom may concern:

Be itknown thatI, DAVID BROWN, ofthe city, county and State of New York, ship-builder, have invented and made certain new and useful improvements in the constructive arrangements and mechanical combinations of materials and parts used in building ships and vessels of any size and classand for any purposes, and Whether the same are propelled by sails or steam or other power, or by sails and steam or other power combined, by which improvements an increased amount of strength is obtained with a decrease in the weight of the hull of the ship, which improvements consist principally in new arrangements for applying iron conjointly with wood in and on the frame timbers and beams o6 the ship, and for which improvements I seek Letters Patent of the United States; and I do hereby declare that the said improvements and the mode of constructing and using the same and the effects intended to be produced thereby are fully and substantially set forth and shown in the following description and in the drawings annexed to and making part of this specification, wherein- Figure l is an endwise internal perspective View of the body-timbers of a ship fitted with these improvements, so far as the same-can be therein shown. Fig. 2 is a diagonal perspective view of the same and of the parts attached to the beams inside and to the parts on the sides outside the frames which cannot be so collectively shown in Fig. l.

The detached figures are separately referred to, and thetsame letters and numbers as marks of reference apply to the like parts in each of the figures.

a, is the keel.

b is the keelson, with the bolts 1 l nearly as usual.

c are the floor-timbers.

d are the first foot-hooks, e are the second foot-hooks, f are the third foot-hooks, g are the top timbers, and h are the bulwark timbers, of the several frames, which are cut out and fitted and fayed together in the usual manner, as shown by a dotted line on each internal and upper surface; but before'the two several thwartship ranges of timber that constitute each frame are fastened together the sidings or face that meet and close together are to be countersunk or grooved in trarily varied to suit circumstances.

each meeting side or face to match the opposite, so that each groove shall receive onehalf the thickness of al bar of iront' of a proper size, which may be in Width between one-fourth and one-third ot the depth of the Hoor-timber at the throat and in thickness about one-sixth of its own width as a general proportion to the size of the door and other timbers; but these proportions may be arbi- Each bar c' is to be swept or formed nearly to the curve of the timbers, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. l, and made with holes at proper spacings to match corresponding and equal holes in each piece of timber in each side, and through these holes headed bolts 2 2 2 are to be driven and screwed tight by nuts on their points, so as to press the timber with the inclosed iron bar or auxiliary frame into the closest possible contact.

At the midship part of each iioor c the butts of the internal and auxiliary iron frames i are yto be brought together, as shown in the detached Fig. 3, so as to admit a key 3, to be driven in from above when each frame is in place, but before the keelson b is put on. The operation of this is the same as that of a keypiece to an arch, and will force the iron frame to sustain the Weight and any strain of the timber-frame between the key and the oorheads,v whether the strain be caused by the weight of engines or cargo within the vessel or by the vessel taking the ground, as in nearly all cases of either of these characters large vessels give way first between the keel and floor-heads. By this mode of construction each frame can be set at a distance from the next frame equal to the entire space of one intermediate frame, as shown in Fig. 2, thus effecting a reduction in the weight and cost ot' material and conversion of frame-timbers of'from one-third to one-half the timber, and

although the cost and weight of the iron in-V frame, rendering the Whole of each frame of nearly homogeneous strength, instead of the strength being interrupted andreduced, either where the joints and butts of the frame-pieces meet or byany portion of the compass-timber being`graincut to give it the needful form in the frame.

In Fig. l the iron frame 'L' is shown as not continued above the main deck m; but this iron frame may be reduced to the proportions bf the timber and continued to thevupper deck n or to the tops of the bulwark-timbers h, if thought proper.

W'hen from the great size it may befound .i

difficult to forge and sweep the internal auxiliary iron frames in one length from the keel upward, it will be proper to make them in lengths that can be handled and it these lengths in with the upper or outer ends of the lower pieces and the lower .ends of the next upper pieces lapped or scarfed together; a

but in any such case the laps or scarfs should be long enough to have not .less than four: bolts through them and the two next pieces l of the wood, and in all such cases the lap or l scarf of the iron should be extended from midway between the two next shifts in the length of the wood material, so as to pass beyond each next butt, as shown in the detached duplicate, Fig. 4, which exhibits a vertical elevation and end section of the parts thus iitted and in place. This mode of lapping or scarfing the iron frame in a long scarf may be ,iudiciously applied to commence nearly with the round and rise of the bilge and terminate beyond the next shift of timber above, as by this means the twofold iron will come into and strengthen that part of the frames which isi the ends are iron plates, forming lodging-ties 4, fastened on the beams by bolts and nuts The outer ends of these ties tare reduced to form bolts that go through the frame in the wake of the beam and terminate ina screwed point. At the same level with the ties lian iron plate o is either laid on or let Vvpartly or entirely into the vertical frames to form `a longitudinal ribbon-tie the whole length of the vessel in pieces of any convenint length, and where each two lengths meet the ends are formed as a half knuckle-joint, Vwith a long vertical eye through each part, as sho-wn at 5 in Fig. 2 and in the detached Fig. 5 in larger size, with a gib 6 put in, the top shoulder of which rests on the topof the jointand a key-wedge 7 entered and driven fromabove each joint placed between two frames, andfso far as convenient in the structure no two of these joints placed over each other, although shown so in the drawings.

Between each two ranges of the ribboneties o o diagonal crossed 4braces p19 :are to 'belaid on or let onto the frames,.so that they are to b be bolted to the frames where these cross each other, and the ends of each brace p, entering betw-eenthc ribbon-ties and the timber, are to have holes to correspond with those in the ribbon-ties, and through both of these where they meet the screwed points 8 of thelodgingties 4- are -to pass, andV a nut on each is to be used to compress all the parts into the closest possible contact, and in the parts where the ribbon o and diagonals p do not meet the A screw-pointsS of the tiesfare to pass through proper holes in` the ribbons o o and receive lnu-ts to compress these parts in the same In the 'detached triplicate, Fig. 6, a deckbeam q is shown in plan and -elevation'and inan end section as cutasunder vertically ,through the length and half grooved or coun- ,tersu-nk on each inner and meeting face to yreceive an .internal and auxiliary iron-plate beam fr in the same mannerand nearly in the same proportion as to size as the frames are itted, and the wholesecured by screw-pointed bolts 9, passing through the inclosing timber and the iron and compressing the whole together by nuts. One end of the beam q is shown with the tie-plates/i to take the ribbon 0 by prolongations forming two tie-bolts to go through each frame-piece and the ribbon 0,.:and the other end of the beam is shown with that end of the internal viron reduced to asingle bolt l0, which may either go through or between the two vertical frame-pieces or through one of them. In either case the boltpoi-nt is to protrude through the corresponding ribbon o and all be compressed together by a nut, as before described. In this last Vconstruction a horizontal lodging-knee of wood may be secured above the clamp-piece lc, or a diagonal dagger-knee of wood be attached to the face of the clamp-piece 7c. In `either case the thwartship arms Vof these knees may be attached to the sides of the beams by a part of the same bolts that go through the wood and iron collectively, forming the beam itself.

In the drawings only two ranges of ribbonties o o, with one range of diagonals p p between them, are shown; but these parts may lbe multiplied either above or below the position of the parts shown in the drawings, and in any such case it is desirable, so far as convenient, that each diagonal p shall extend from the upper ribbon-tie o to the lowest and be attached at the points where each diagonal crosses any intermediate ribbon-tie in the manner already described.

The dividing a beam lengthwise to introduce an auxiliary internal iron plate or beam is Anot new, taken by itself, and is well understood in common carpentry, and the diagonal braces, taken by themselves, are equally well understood and commonly used for many purposes. -Neither are the iron lodging-ties4 new, these having been used by myself and others several years back; but it is not within my knowledge or belief that either of these parts have everbeen used conjointly with iron rib 1. The application of au auxiliary and in? ternal iron frame 11i between the two thwartship ranges of material, forming collectively each principal frame-timber of a ship or vessel conjointly with the constructive arrangements for rendering the same effective in place and use, including the tting and use of the key 3, (shown in Fig. 3,) to act similarly to the key-piece of an arch, and including any variations that may be practical conveniences without eecting mechanical changes, all applied, constructed, arranged, and conjoined substantially as described and shown.

2. The application of the lengthwise iron ribbon-ties o, with their joints 5', the conjoining therewith the diagonal crossed braces p, and the constructing and placing these parts so that they shall be united to and coinpressed into close contact with the principal frame-timbers and the ends of the beams by the bolt-formed ends of the. lodging-ties 4 or the bolt-formed ends of the interior platebeams r receiving-nuts by which these portions of the structure are secured together, including any variations that may be practical conveniences without ettecting mechanical changes, the whole applied, constructed, arranged, and conjoined substantially as described and shown.

Inwitness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the city of New York, this 24th day of May, 1847.

DAVID BROWN.

Witnesses:

W. SERRELL, t LEMUEL W. SERRELL. 

